CALIFORNIA 

;RN 

RY  FACILITY 

^1       L 


DRAMA 
GLASS 

KATE  FIELD 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 

LIBBEY GLASS  CO. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  GLASS  was  an 
inspiration  born  in  the  brain  of 
Kate  Field,  as  she  watched  the 
busy  workmen,  who  with  trained 
eyes  and  skillful  hands,  wrought 
out  the  products  of  one  of  America's 
great  industries  that  found  a  tem- 
porary home  in  the  World's  Fair 
at  Chicago. 

It  is  an  addition  to  the  long  list 
of  brilliant  writings  of  this  versatile 
woman,  whose  literary  labors  have 
made  her  memory  so  dear  to  the 
thousands  of  Americans  who  have 
found  in  them  the  reflection  of  her 
own  individuality. 

\  The  story  of  an  art  that  is  as  old 
as  the  building  of  the  City  of 
Babylon,  that  formed  a  part  in  the 
life  of  Egypt,  that  was  interwoven 
in  the  history  of  Rome,  and  that 


1702001 


gave  a  reputation  to  a  nation,  is 
re-told  by  Miss  Field. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  art, 
wrapped  in  mystery  and  legend, 
step  by  step  her  story  has  become 
history.  She  has  carried  it  as  far 
as  the  World's  Fair,  and  it  has  de- 
volved upon  Mr.  Thos.  M.  Willey 
to  complete  what  she  so  well  begun. 


AVE  you  ever  thought 
what  a  drama  glass  plays 
in  the  history  of  the 
world?  It  is  a  drama 
even  in  the  French  acceptation  of 
the  word,  which  infers  not  only 
intense  action,  but  death.  Can 
there  be  more  intense  action  than 
that  of  fire,  and  is  not  glass  the 
own  child  of  fire  and  death  ? 

The  origin  of  glass  is  lost  in 
myth  and  romance.  Nobody  knows 
how  it  was  born,  but  there  are  as 
many  traditions  as  there  are  cities 
claiming  to  be  Homer's  birthplace. 
Pliny  says  that  the  discovery  of 
Nglass  was  due  to  substituting  cakes 
of  nitre  for  stones  as  supports  for 
cooking  pots. 


According  to  his  story,  certain 
Phoenician  merchants  landed  on 
the  .coast  of  Palestine  and  cooked 
their  food  in  pots  supported  on 
cakes  of  nitre  taken  from  their 
cargo. 

Great  was  the  wonder  of  these 
Phoenicians — the  Yankees  of  an- 
tiquity, the  builders  of  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  the  inventors  of  the  alpha- 
bet— on  beholding  solid  matter 
changed  to  a  strange  fluid,  which 
voluntarily  mingled  with  its  nearest 
neighbor,  the  sand,  and  made  a 
transparent  material  now  called 
glass. 

This  story  is  too  pretty  to  spoil, 
and  those  of  us  who  prefer  romance 
to  science  will  believe  it,  though 
Menet  the  chemist  posi- 
tively declares  that  to 
produce  such  a  fluid 
would  require  a  heat 
from  1800  to  2700  de- 
grees Fahrenheit.  Un- 
der the  circumstances 
narrated  by  Pliny,  such 


a  tremendously  high  temperature 
was  impossible.  Science  often 
interferes  with  romance,  and  were 
not  truth  better  even  than  poetry, 
science  would  be  a  nuisance  in 
literature. 

An  art  that  Hermes  taught  to 
Egyptian  chemists  like  good  wine 
needs  no  bush,  yet  on  its  brilliant 
crest  may  be  found  the  splendid 
quarterings  not  only  of  Egypt,  but 
of  Gaul,  Rome,  Byzantium,  Venice, 
Germany,  Bohemia,  Great  Britain, 
and  last  but  not  least  the  United 
States. 

He   was   a  poor    man,  who,    in 
Seneca's  day,  had  not   his  house 
decorated  with  various  de- 
signs in  glass ;  while  Scau- 
rus,  the  Aedile,  a  superin- 
tendent of  public  buildings 
in  ancient  Rome,  actually 
4?uilt    a    theatre    seating 
forty    thousand    persons, 
the  second  story  of  which 
was  made  of 
glass.      That 


masterpiece  of  ancient  manufac- 
ture, the  Portland  Vase,  was  taken 
from  the  tomb  of  the  Roman 
Emperor  Alexander  Severus,  and 
should  bear  his  name  rather  than 
that  of  the  Duchess  of  Portland, 
who  purchased  it  from  the  Bar- 
berini  family  after  it  had  stood 
three  hundred  years  in  their  famous 
Roman  gallery. 

In  the  thirteenth  century  Venice 
reigned  supreme  in  glass  making. 
No  one  knows  how  long  the  City  of 
Doges  might  have  monopolized 
certain  features  of  this  art  but  for 
a  woman  who  could  not  keep  a 
secret  from  her  lover.  Marietta 
was  the  daughter  of  Beroviero,  one 
of  the  most  famous  glass  makers 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  Many 
were  his  receipts  for  producing 
colored  glass,  and  as  he  had  faith 
in  his  own  flesh  and  blood  he 
confided  these  precious  receipts  to 
his  daughter.  Alas,  for  poor 
Beroviero!  Marietta,  after  the 
manner  of  women,  loved  a  man, 


one  Giorgio,  an  artisan  in  her 
father's. employ.  History  does  not 
tell,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that 
Giorgio  wheedled  the  secret  out  of 
his  sweetheart. 

Once  possessed  of  these  receipts 
he  published  and  sold  them  for  a 
large  sum,  then  turning  on  the  man 
he  had  betrayed  he  demanded 
faithless  Marietta  in  marriage. 
Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
ignoble  love  of  a  weak  woman  for 
a  dishonorable  man  helped  to 
change  the  fortunes  of  Venice. 
The  world  gained  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  a  monopoly,  one  more 


proof  of  the  poet's  dictum 
that  "  all  partial  evil  is 
universal  good." 

It  was  in  the  middle 
of  this  same  fifteenth  cen- 
tury that  a  number  of 
Venetian  glass  makers 
were  imprisoned  in  Lon- 
don because  they  could 
not  pay  the  heavy  fine 
imposed  by  the  Venetian 
Council  for  plying  their  art  in  foreign 
lands.  "  Let  us  work  out  our  fine,'' 
pleaded  these  victims  of  prohibition. 
Their  prayer  was  warmly  seconded 
by  England's  king,  whose  interces- 
sion was  by  no  means  disinterested. 
Yielding  to  royal  desire,  Venice 
freed  these  artisans,  and  thus  glass 
making  was  established  in  Great 
Britain.  Beyond  the  point  of 
reason  all  prohibitory  laws  fail 
sooner  or  later.  Go  to  the  bottom 
of  slang,  and  as  a  rule  you  will 
find  it  based  on  rugged  truth. 
When  in  the  breezy  vernacular  of 
this  republic  a  human  being  is 


credited  with  " sand"  or  is  accused 
of  being  entirely  destitute  of  it,  he 
rises  to  high  esteem  or  falls  beneath 
contempt.  Possessing  "sand  "  he 
can  command  success;  without  it 
he  is  a  poor  creature.  For  the 
origin  of  this  slang  we  turn  to 
glass  making,  the  excellence  of 
which  depends  upon  sand. 

If  Bohemia  succeeded  finally 
in  making  clearer  and  whiter  glass 
than  Venice,  it  was  because  Bo- 
hemia produced  better  sand.  When 
the  town  of  Murano  furnished  the 
world  with  glass,  its  population 
was  thirty  thousand.  That  number 
has  dwindled  to  four  thousand. 
Bohemian  glass  stood  unrivaled 
until  England  discovered  flint  or 
lead  glass;  now,  the  world  looks 
to  the  United  States  for  rich  cut 
glass,  the  highest  artistic  expres- 
sion of  modern  glass. 

Where  does  America  begin  its 
evolution  in  glass?  Before  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth 
Rock.  In  1608,  within  a  mile  of 


the  English  settlement  of  James- 
town, Virginia,  a  glass  house  was 
built  in  the  woods.  Curiously 
enough  it  was  the  first  factory 
built  upon  this  continent.  This 
factory  began  with  bottles,  and 
bottles  were  the  first  manufactured 
articles  that  were  exported  from 
North  America. 

In  those  early  days  glass  beads 
were  in  great  demand.      Indians 
would  sell   their   birthright   for   a 
mess  of  them,  so  when  the  first 
glass  house  fell   to    pieces,    a 
second   took  its  place  for  the 
purpose    of    supplying  the  In- 
dians with  beads. 

A  few  years  later  common 
glass  was  made  in 
Massachusetts.  It 
appears  from  the 
records  of  the  town 


of  Salem  that  the  glass  makers 
could  not  have  been  very  success- 
ful, as  that  town  loaned  them  thirty 
pounds  in  money  which  was  never 
paid  back. 

During  the  time  of  the  Dutch 
occupation  of  Manhattan  Island, 
when  New  York  was  known  as 
New  Amsterdam,  a  glass  factory 
was  built  near  Hanover  Square, 
but  not  until  after  the  Revolution 
came  and  went  did  glass  making 
really  take  root  in  American  soil. 
In  July,  1787,  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  gave  to  a  Boston  glass 
company  the  exclusive  right  to 
make  glass  in  that  State  for  fifteen 
years.  This  company  prospered 
and  was  the  first  successful  glass 
manufacturing  company  in  the 
United  States.  Then  followed 
others  that  were  successful.  As 
early  as  1865  there  was  manufac- 
tured, in  the  vicinity  of  Boston, 
glass  that  was  the  equal  of  the 
best  flint  glass  manufactured  in 
England.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 


years  from  the  time  the  first  rough 
bottles  were  exported  from  Vir- 
ginia to  England  seems  a  long 
time  to  us,  but  how  short  a  time 
'.,  it  really  is  in  the  life  of  this 
ancient  art — this  drama  of  glass. 


18 


FROM  1850  TO  189^ 
AN  EVOLUTION  IN  GLASS 


It  is  always  interesting  to  trace 
the  history  of  a  great  industry. 
Like  the  oak,  it  begins  with  a  small 
seed  that  hardly  knows  its  own 
mind,  and  is  often  more  surprised 
than  the  rest  of  the  world  at  the 
result  of  earnest  effort.  See  what 
apothecaries  did  for  Italy.  Me- 
diaeval art  and  the  Medicis  go  hand 
in  hand.  The  drama  of  glass  in  the 
United  States  may  have  as  signifi- 
cant a  mission,  for  it  is  singularly 
true  that  James  Jackson  Jarves,  son 
of  Deming  Jarves,  the  pioneer  glass 
manufacturer  of  New  England,  was 
almost  the  first  American  to  give  his 
life  to  the  study  of 
old  masters  and  to 


devote  his  fortune  to  collecting 
their  works.  The  Jarves  gallery 
now  belongs  to  Yale  University. 

William  L.  Libbey  was  born  in 
Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  and 
became,  in  1850,  the  confidential 
clerk  of  Jarves  &  Commeraiss, 
the  greatest  glass  importers  of 
Boston,  and  whose  glass  factory 
in  South  Boston  was  the  forerunner 
of  the  Libbey  Works  of  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition.  Having  made  a 
fortune — the  fortune  his  clever  son 
spent  in  art  and  bric-a-brac — Dem  ing 
Jarves  sold  his  glass  factory  to  his 
trusted  clerk  in  1855,  and  for 
twenty  years  this  Massachusetts 
industry  gained  strength  and  repu- 
tation. But  the  trend  of  popula- 
tion was  westward. 

Cheap  fuel  was  necessary  to  suc- 
cessful glass  making.  How  could 
New  England  coal  compete  with 
natural  gas  ?  So  Ohio  came  to  the 
front.  A  few  years  ago  Ohio's 
natural  gas  became  exhausted. 
Without  a  day's  disturbance  petro- 


leum  succeeded  gas,  and  better 
glass  was  made  than  ever,  because 
oil  produces  a  more  even  tempera- 
ture. Verily  "  there  is  a  soul  of 
goodness  in  things  evil."  From 
Massachusetts  to  Ohio,  from  coal 
to  gas,  from  gas  to  petroleum, 
what  would  be  the  next  act  in  the 
drama  of  American  glass  ?  What, 
indeed,  but  an  act  the  scene  of 
which  was  laid  in  the  grounds  of 
the  World's  Fair ! 

Believing  fully  in  the  westward 
course  of  empire,  Mr.  Edward  D. 
Libbey  had  the  inspiration  that  if 
Chicago  wanted  the  World's  Fair, 
Chicago  would  not  only  have  it, 
but  would  create  such  an  exposi- 
tion as  had  never  been  seen.  So 
before  even  the  temporary  organi- 
zation was  formed  in  Chicago  the 
Libbey  Glass  Company  filed  an 
application  for  the  exclusive  right 
to  manufacture  glass  at  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition. 

The  problem  of  erecting  a  build- 
ing that  should  be  architecturally 


in  keeping  with  the  surroundings, 
that  should  afford  every  possible 
comfort  to  the  thousands  of  daily 
visitors  and  still  be  used  as  a  manu- 
factory, was  not  an  easy  matter. 

Begun  in  October,  1892,  the  ad- 
mirable building,  put  up  in  the 
Midway  Plaisance  to  show  the  pro- 
cess of  making  glass,  was  finished 
one  week  before  May  ist  following. 
On  that  bleak  opening  day  thou- 
sands of  overshoes  were  stalled  in 
mud  a  foot  deep  before  the  Admin- 
istration Building,  and  the  owners 
went  home  in  some  cases  almost 
barefooted. 

But  there  was  an  expenditure  of 
$125,000  in  an  idea,  and  the  in- 
vestors had  no  reason  to  fear 


weather  or  neglect.  From  the 
opening  to  the  closing  of  the  big 
front  door  two  million  people  found 
their  way  to  this  glass  house,  at 
which  no  one  threw  stones.  The 
trouble  was  not  to  get  people  in, 
but  to  keep  them  out.  A  mob 
never  benefits  itself  nor  anybody 
else.  To  reduce  the  attendance  to 
reasonable  proportions  a  fee  was 
charged,  applicable  to  the  purchase 
of  some  souvenir,  made  perhaps 
before  the  buyer's  very  eyes.  Why 
was  this  glass  house  so  popular  ? 
Because  its  exhibit  displayed  the 
only  art  industry  in  actual  opera- 
tion within  the  Fair  grounds. 

All  people  like  machinery  in 
motion,  and  the  most  curious  people 
on  earth  are  Americans.  They 
want  to  know  how  things  are  made, 
and,  like  children,  are  not  content 
until  they  have  laid  their  hands  on 
whatever  confronts  them.  "  Please 
do  not  touch  "  has  no  terrors  for 
them.  In  addition  to  this  inborn 
love  of  action,  there  is  a  fascination 


about  glass  blowing  and  the  fash- 
ioning of  shapeless  matter  piping 
hot  from  the  pot  that  appeals  to 
men  and  women  of  all  sorts  and 
conditions.  With  eyes  and  mouths 
wide  open,  thousands  stood  daily 
around  the  circular  factory  watch- 
ing a  hundred  skilled  artisans  at 
work.  They  looked  at  the  big 
central  furnace,  in  which  sand, 
oxide  of  lead,  potash,  saltpetre  and 
nitrate  of  soda  underwent  vitrifica- 
tion ;  they  saw  it  taken  out  of  the 
pot  a  plastic  mass,  which,  through 
long,  hollow  iron  tubes,  was  blown 
and  rolled  and  twisted  and  turned 
into  things  of  beauty.  Here  was  a 
champagne  glass,  there  was  a  flower 
bowl ;  now  came  a  decanter,  fol- 
lowed by  a  jewel  basket.  A  few 
minutes  later  jugs  and  goblets  and 
vases  galore  passed  from  the  nim- 
ble fingers  of  the  artisans  to  the 
annealing  oven  below. 

All  these  creations  entered  the 
oven  as  hot  as  they  came  from 
the  last  manipulator,  but  gradually 


26 


cooled  off  to  the  temperature  of  the 
atmosphere.  Getting  used  to  the 
hardships  of  life  requires  twenty- 
four  hours,  during  which  the  trays 
on  which  the  glass  stands  are  slow- 
ly moved  from  the  hot  to  the 
temperate  end  of  the  oven.  This 
procession  was  an  object  lesson  in 
life  as  well  as  in  glass.  "  Make 
haste  slowly  or  you'll  defeat  your- 
self," was  the  burden  of  the  song 
those  things  of  beauty  sang  to 
themselves  and  to  all  who  listened. 

If  American  cut  glass  has  grown 
beyond  compare,  it  is  largely  due  to 
the  superior  intelligence  of  Ameri- 
can artisans.  They  have  the  "sand"; 
so,  too,  have  the  beautiful  hills  of 
Berkshire  County,  Massachusetts, 
whence  comes  the  purest  quality 
the  whole  world  has  known.  The 
best  flint  glass  exhibited  at  the 
Paris  Exposition  of  1867  owed  its 
excellence  to  the  treasure  stowed 
away  in  Western  Massachusetts. 

The  finest  Amer- 
ican flint  glass   of 


the  Columbian  Exposition  found  its 
inspiration  in  the  same  part  of  the 
old  Bay  State. 

Little  did  those  visitors  to  the 
Fair  know  whence  came  the  hot 
fires  of  Libbey's  Glass  House. 
They  little  knew  that  oil  was  drawn 
in  pipes  from  Ohio,  and  that  one 
hundred  and  fifty  barrels  of  petro- 
leum lay  buried  under  innocent- 
looking  grass,  that  looked  up  and 
asked  not  to  be  trodden  under  foot. 

Of  course,  had  lightning  struck 
those  two  great  hidden  tanks  of 
liquid  dynamite,  we  should  all 
have  been  sent  to  that  bourne 
whence  no  World's  Fair  visitor 
could  have  returned. 

Seventy-five  barrels  of  oil  were 
burned  daily  on  the  Midway  Plai- 
sance.  How  many  gallons  ?  Three 
thousand.  Multiply  one  day's  fire 
by  one  hundred  and  eighty  days 
and  you  discover  that  the  drama 
of  glass  at  the  Fair  was  the  death 
of  fifty-four  thousand  gallons  of 
petroleum. 


28 


THE    ACTRESS 

AND 
THE    INFANTA 


Ever  since  the  era  of  fairy  tales 
the  world  has  heard  of  glass  slip- 
pers. Cinderella  wore  them  and 
great  was  the  romance  thereof. 
But  whoever  before  1893  heard  of 
a  glass  dress,  and  who  conceived 
such  a  novel  idea? 

From  that  memorable  day  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden  when  Eve  ate 
that  apple,  which  may  literally  be 
called  the  fruit  of  all  knowledge, 
woman  has  been  at  the  bottom  of 
everything;  it  was  a  women  who 
got  it  into  her  head  that  she 
wanted  a  glass  dress.  How  did  it 
happen?  Thus:  In  the  middle  of 
>May,  1893,  women  from  all  parts 
of  the  earth  took  Chicago  by 
storm.  Theirs  was  the  first  of  one 
hundred  congresses,  and  among 


many  artists  was  Georgia  Cayvan, 
whose  record  on  and  off  the  stage 
does  credit  to  her  head  and  heart. 
Of  course  the  clever  actress  visited 
the  Fair  and  of  course  she  followed 
the  multitude  and  found  herself 
watching  the  process  of  making 
American  glass.  It  was  not  long 
before  Miss  Cayvan's  quick  eye  was 
attracted  by  an  exhibit  of  spun  and 
woven  glass  lamp  shades. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  those 
shades  are  spun  out  of  glass?" 
she  exclaimed;  "the  material  re- 
sembles silk." 

"Nevertheless  it  is  glass,"  re- 
plied the  attendant. 

"  Is  it  possible  to  make  a  glass 
dress  ? " 

"  Why  not?  It  is  not  only  pos- 
sible but  eminently  feasible." 
"Would   it  be  very  expen- 
sive?" 

"Twenty-five     dollars     a 
yard." 

This    was    a    deal    of 
monev  to  invest  in  an  ex- 


peri  men  t,  as  at  least  twelve  yards 
are  needed  for  a  gown,  but  when  a 
woman  wills  she  wills,  especially 
when  she  is  intimately  acquainted 
with  her  own  mind.  Miss  Cayvan 
knows  hers  perfectly,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  she  exacted  from  the  Com- 
pany a  promise  not  only  to  spin  her 
many  yards  of  glass  cloth  for  a 
white  evening  costume,  but  she 
obtained  from  them  the  exclusive 
right  to  wear  glass  cloth  on  the 
stage.  "  It  is  agreed."  said  actress 
and  manufacturer  in  chorus,  and 
off  hied  the  former  to  New  York, 
where  at  the  end  of  four  weeks  she 
received  her  material  direct  from 
the  Midway  Plaisance.  Ho\\  to 
make  it  up  was  the  next  question, 
for  Madame  la  Modiste  vowed  she 
wouldn't  touch  such  material  with 
scissors  and  needles. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  a  specialist 
is  ^needed  to  cut  and  sew  glass, 
which  differs  from  other  cloths  in 
breaking  and  wickedly  sticking 
into  the  hands,  so  a  skillful  and 


33 


artistic  young  woman  employee 
from  Toledo  was  sent  to  New  York 
to  do  what  the  ordinary  seamstress 
could  not.  She  cut  and  made  the 
unique  costume  with  which  Miss 
Cayvan  sweeps  the  stage  to  the 
edification  of  feminine  and  the 
wonder  of  masculine  eyes. 

The  fame  of  that  glass  gown 
reached  the  ears  of  the  Infanta 
Eulalia,  who  saw  it  worn  by  the 
ingenious  actress  and  determined 
to  inspect  its  counterpart  set  up  in 
a  case  at  the  World's  Fair.  The 
Midway  Plaisance  was  the  Prin- 
cess's favorite  resort  in  Chicago, 
and  she  soon  turned  her  steps 
toward  the  glass  house  she  had 
heard  so  much  about.  "Where's 
that  dress?"  asked  the  Infanta  as 
she  entered  the  factory.  On  being 
conducted  to  it  Eulalia  expressed 
great  pleasure,  declaring  it  was  the 
finest  thing  she  had  seen  at  the  Fair. 

"Would  Your  Highness  wear  such 
a  gown  were  one  made  expressly 
for  you  ?  "  she  was  asked. 


35 


"  Not  only  would  I  wear  it,  but 
I'd  take  the  greatest  delight  in 
telling  the  story  of  its  manufac- 
ture," replied  the  Princess. 

Before  sailing  away  to  Spain, 
Eulalia  wras  fitted  for  her  American 
glass  gown,  now  wears  it,  and  to- 
day there  hangs  in  the  Libbey 
Glass  Company's  private  office  the 
following  official  certificate : 

ROYAL  HOUSE  OF  H.  R.  H.  INFANTE  DON- 
ANTONIO  DE  ORLEANS 

H.  R.  H.  Infante  Antonio  de  Orleans  appoints 
Messrs.  Libbey  and  Company  of  Toledo,  Ohio, 
cut-glass  makers  to  his  royal  house,  with  the  use 
of  his  royal  coat-of-arms  for  signs,  bills  and  labels. 
In  fulfillment  of  the  command  of  His  Royal  High- 
ness I  present  this  certificate,  signed  in  Madrid, 
July  i sth,  1803. 

PEDRO  JOVER  FOVAR 

Superintendent  of  His  Royal  Highness's  Household 

Thus  for  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  an  industry  almost  as 
old  as  humanity,  glass  adorns  alike 
the  person  of  a  Royal  Princess  and 
the  person  of  a  charming  actress. 
Produced  at  the  Court  of  Spain 
and  on  the  American  stage,  am  I 
not  justified  in  calling  this  memory 
of  a  far  and  near  past "  The  Drama 
of  Glass"?  KATE  FIELD 

36 


3E    DRAMA   OF   GLASSN 
BY 


In  every  story  told  of  the  sights 
worth  seeing  at  the  Columbian  Ex- 
position the  factory  of  the  Libbey 
Glass  Company,  of  Toledo,  Ohio, 
has  had  an  important  part.  It  was 
more  than  a  mere  exhibit ;  it  was  a 
practical  education  in  the  art  of 
glass  making,  which,  like  an  easy 
lesson  that  follows  step  by  step, 
from  the  mixing  of  the  crude  ma- 
terial to  the  completion  of  the 
finest  piece  of  cut  glass, 
impressed  itself  upon 
the  minds  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  visi- 
tors. 

Recall  in  your 
memory  your  visit 
to  the  World's  Fair 
in  1 893.  Place  your- 


self  upon  the  Midway  Plaisance, 
directly  opposite  the  Woman's 
Building.  Does  your  mind  pic- 
ture a  stately,  beautiful  building, 
with  central  dome  and  graceful 
towers  ?  This  was  the  building  of 
the  glass  factory  to  whom  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  manufacture  and 
sell  its  products  was  awarded  over 
many  competitors  by  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition.  This  con- 
cession was  given  because  the  plan 
of  the  Libbey  Glass  Company  was 
a  plan  of  broad  ideas,  fully  meet- 
ing the  requirement  that  America 
should  show  that  the  whole  world 
followed  her  in  the  manufacture  of 
cut  glass. 

How  well  that  Company  fulfilled 
its  mission  is  known  to  the  two 
million  visitors  who  passed  under 
thedeep-recessed  semicircular  arch- 
way, rich  with  sculptured  ornament, 
that  covered  the  grand  entrance  to 
this  palace ;  within,  it  was  like  a 
theatre,  where  the  scenes  in  the 


40 


beautiful  drama  of  glass  were  ever 
changing.  Do  you  remember  that 
the  sides,  the  dome,  the  ceiling, 
were  all  glitter  and  sheen  with  the 
products  of  this  mystic  art,  and 
that  from  thousands  of  cut-glass 
pieces,  as  from  brilliant  diamonds, 
sparkled  the  prismatic  hues  ? 

Do  you  remember  the  roaring 
furnace  a  hundred  feet  high,  the 
melting  pots  made  of  the  clays  of 
the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds, 
mixed  by  the  bare  feet  in  order 
that  they  have  the  requisite  con- 
sistency? The  products  of  this 
factory  were  born  of  fire.  The 
plastic  molten  mass  that  came  from 
the  melting  furnace,  with  its  heat 
of  2200  degrees  Fahrenheit,  was 
thirty  hours  before  a  mixture  called 
by  glass  makers  a  "batch,"  whose 
chief  ingredient  was  sand  from  the 
hills  of  Massachusetts. 

Did  you  watch  the  workmen — 
the  "gatherer"  and  the  "blower," 
with  their  long,  hollow  iron  pipes  ? 
How  the  "  blower,"  with  his  trained 


fingers,  gave  an  easy,  constantly 
swaying  motion  to  the  pipe,  into 
which  he  blew  and  expanded  the 
hot  glass  at  its  end  ?  The  temper- 
ing oven,  through  which  all  glass 
productions  must  pass  before  they 
will  resist  changes  in  temperature 
or  even  stand  transportation  ?  Did 
you  follow  the  process  of  cutting 
glass ;  see  the  wheels  like  grind- 
stones, driven  by  steam  power  ? 
Wheels  of  stone  that  come  from 
England  and  Scotland,  and  carry 
with  them  the  old-country  names 
of  Yorkshire  Flag,  New  Castle  and 
Craigleith,  stones  that  are  very 
hard  and  close-grained,  capable  of 
retaining  a  very  sharp  edge  ? 
Wheels  of  iron,  which  are  used  to 
cut  the  design  in  the  rough ;  wheels 
of  wood,  cork,  felt,  and  revolving 
brush  wheels,  used  in  finishing  and 
polishing  ?  Did  you  know  that  the 
trained  eye  of  the  cutter  and  his 
experience  were  the  only  guides  he 
had  to  secure  the  requisite  depth 
to  his  cutting ;  that  he  must  exer- 


42 


cise  great  care  and  judgment,  else 
the  vibration  of  the  glass  renders 
it  extremely  liable  to  break,  and 
that  an  intricate  design  requires 
many  days  of  constant  manipula- 
tion ? 

Did  you  watch  with  interest  the 
making  of  glass  cloth,  see  how  the 
thread  of  glass  was  drawn  out  and 
wound  on  the  big  wheels  that  re- 
volved hundreds  of  times  a  minute  ? 
How  the  glass  thread  was  woven 
with  the  silk  thread,  producing  a 
pliable  glass  cloth  of  soft  sheen 
and  lustre,  that  could  be  folded, 
pleated  and  handled  in  all  ways 
like  cloth  ? 

Do  you  recall  the  Crystal  Art 
Room  ?  Did  you  realize  that  under 
that  ceiling,  bedecked  with  ten 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  spun 
glass  cloth,  was  collected  the  finest 
display  of  cut  glass  the  world  had 
ever  seen  ?  Do  you  remember  an 
old  glass  punch  bowl,  used  in  1840 
by  Henry  Clay,  and  that  near  this 
relic  of  ancient  glassware  was  an- 


other  punch  bowl  upon  which  five 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  labor 
had  been  bestowed  ? 

Did  you  mark  the  difference,  the 
deep  and  brilliant  cuttings,  how 
effective  they  were,  how  they 
brought  out  the  beauty  and  rich- 
ness of  the  design  ?  Then,  when 
you  examined  the  hundreds  of 
other  articles,  the  sherbet  and 
punch  glasses  in  Roman  shapes, 
the  quaint  decanters  in  Venetian 
forms,  the  celery  trays,  flower 
vases,  and  the  ice-cream  sets  and 
cut-glass  dishes  for  every  use,  you 
saw  the  clearness  of  the  glass  itself, 
and  that  this  deep  and  brilliant 
cutting  of  perfect  design,  that 
brought  out  the  beauties  of  the 


great  punch  bowl,  was  a  marked 
characteristic  of  the  Libbey  Cut 
Glass.  Did  you  not,  as  an  Ameri- 
can, feel  proud  of  the  progress  that 
your  countrymen  had  made  in  this 
old  art  of  glass  making  ? 

Since  the  World's  Fair  at 
Chicago,  two  expositions  of  the 
industries  of  this  country,  the  San 
Francisco  Midwinter  Fair  and  the 
Atlanta  Exposition,  have  added  to 
the  honors  and  reputation  of  the 
cut  glass  of  the  Libbey  Company. 
Certain  trade-marks  and  names  on 
silver  and  china  are  always  looked 
upon  with  pleasure  and  with  a 
feeling  that  the  possessor  has  the 
genuine  article. 

The  same  thing  applies  to  cut 
glassware,  so  as  a  protection  to  the 
public  against  those  who  would 
profit  by  the  reputation  of  others, 
the  Libbey  Glass  Company  cut 
their  trade-mark— the  name  Libbey 
with  a  sword  under  it — upon  every 
piece  of  glass  they  manufacture. 


45 


Half  a  century  in  the  life  of 
America  has  added  much  to  the 
art  upon  whose  brilliant  crest,  as 
Miss  Field  has  said,  may  be  found 
the  splendid  quarterings  of  Egypt, 
Rome,  Venice,  Germany  and  Great 
Britain,  and  today  the  United 
States  stands  unrivaled  in  the 
manufacture  of  cut  glass. 

The  honor  conferred  upon  the 
Libbey  Glass  Company  by  the 
committee,  in  granting  to  them 
the  exclusive  concession  to  manu- 
facture and  sell  American  glass- 
ware within  the  grounds  of  the 
Exposition  during  the  World's  Fair, 
was  a  great  one. 

The  honors  conferred  by  the  San 
Francisco  and  Atlanta  Expositions 
are  but  added  proofs  that  the  selec- 
tion was  a  proper  one.  The  Libbey 
Glass  Company  thus  stands  to-day 
to  represent  the  best  the  United 
States  produces  in  cut  glass,  and 
the  best  the  United  States  produces 
is  the  world's  best. 


46 


Bartlett  &  Company 

The  Orr  Press 

New  York 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


.  '  -• 


A     000100861     4 


3  1158  01273  2540 


UNIVER 

BEGIGNi 


